Recycling programs are beneficial for many reasons. For example: 1) Many American companies rely on recycling programs to provide the raw materials they need to make new products. Recycling in the U.S. is a $236 billion a year industry. 2) More than 56,000 recycling and reuse enterprises employ 1.1 million workers nationwide. 3) The average American business discards one hundred pounds of garbage every day. Most of this garbage goes into landfills, where it is compacted and buried. 4) Recycling can provide advantages over placing materials into landfills, such as requiring less energy, using fewer natural resources, and keeping waste from accumulating in landfills. 5) Recycling can offer energy savings over manufacturing with new or virgin materials. For example, manufacturing with recycled aluminum cans uses 95% less energy. 6) Recycling can preserve existing landfill space. 7) In the year 2000, recycling of solid waste prevented the release of an estimated 32.9 million metric tons of carbon equivalent (MMTCE, the unit of measure for greenhouse gases) into the air. 8) Making goods from recycled materials generates less water pollution than manufacturing from virgin materials. 9) Using recycled materials reduces the need to damage forests, wetlands, rivers, and other places essential to wildlife. 10) Recycling and buying recycled products creates demand for more recycled products, decreasing waste and helping our economy.
Notwithstanding the benefits of recycling, large quantities of recyclable materials are estimated to be deposited in landfills every year.